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Monthly Archives: October 2017

My niece and I share a fascination with stories. Many of them are odd and unusual. Many of them are ghost stories.

I’ve shared copies of ghost story collections with her over the years, mostly M.R.James and Lovecraft and Lord Dunsany. All were classics and I hoped she pulled the comforter to her neck as she read them in her small cabin in eastern Maine.

Mostly, she lived alone in that state of endless forests, pulp wood factories and rocky coastlines.

She had a job as a receptionist at an Inn in North Conway, NH. I’m sure you know the kind of inn where she worked. Nestled in the midst of the White Mountains, where the shadows of Mount Washington darkened the glens and trails and leantos…where the evening shadows came early in the valley’s New England pubs and quaint olde hotels that could be found at many cross roads. She would tell me local ghost tales, but I never had the opportunity of staying at the Inn where she worked. Then she told me about the little ghost girl who was a legend at the Inn. She laughed at the idea but I, to the contrary, thought that the story was something of interest. Spectres of children always evoke a certain melancholy in me. I’m a skeptic when it comes to ghosts in a general sense, but I love the ‘idea’ of them. (I’ve never encountered a spirit, restless or not…that I know of…although I’ve have had some strange feelings in many an old hotel).

So, a few months ago she emailed and, with much excitement, said “I saw the girl in white”. She said she was looking out of the window of her office and saw a little girl in white running around the corner of the Inn. My niece ran to the back window expecting to see the girl…but there was no one in the large backyard.

She felt she had seen the “girl ghost”. I’ve no reason to doubt her. After all, its New England, it’s in keeping with legend and tradition and it fits all the requirements to compel me to tell this story.

At this time of year, as the night of All Hallow’s Eve is upon us.

This story of a little lost girl who died on some unknown date many years ago. My niece’s astute observation skills puts to rest any need or reason for embellishment.

I trust my niece and I trust you to believe this old New England ghost story.

I never understood the above quote, except to say that I think it means that history repeats itself.

I certainly can get that…considering the Trump Era. You can figure the rest out for yourself…if you believe in reading history and science.

But’s that’s not the point of this post. No, I want to go back when I was about ten years old and my parents took me to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). It was decades ago…long before The Night At The Museum.

When I was a child, I saw the dioramas of the ice ages, the history of farming along the Hudson valley, the mineral crystals as large as a park bench and, of course, the dinosaurs!

Over the years, when I was a teacher in NYC, I had chaperoned so many trips to the AMNH that I think I should have been on their payroll.

What is amazing is that some of the building on Central Park West and between 81St and 77th Street has changed dramatically…and some of the exhibits haven’t changed since I was a child. The beautiful old Hayden Planetarium gave way to a giant glass cube. More ‘state of the art’ but less architecturally beautiful.

[Hill of skulls…I don’t know what skulls they are.]

Is that good? Shouldn’t museums remains in a state of stasis or should they “change with the times”?

Want my opinion?

I want both. Up to date science about climate change (yes, it’s real) and astronomy (there’s so much new stuff out there, it will blow your Star Trek Mind).

Take me to the old galleries that haven’t changed in decades and let me dream about how I fell in love with science, anthropology, evolution, minerals and the stars when I was a child.

And, take me to the Hall of the Native Northwest Americans. Show me the ceremonial mask that is supposed to

be ‘haunted’. Night staff won’t go near it.

[Is this the haunted mask? I don’t know.]

Then, tell me that science and myth don’t blend in a beautiful and mysterious way. And, I’m praying to whoever may be the god of myth and history and childhood, I would love to walk my grandson, Elias, through the halls of history and myth and childhood.

It meant so much so me and I wish I could pass it on to my grandchildren.

I’m writing this from a New York City hotel room on W. 35th St. Last night we stayed over in Saratoga to lessen the drudgery of driving into Albany and catching the train into Penn Station. We had dinner in The Olde Bryan Inn.

It’s supposed to be haunted. Two employees told me so. I guess it must be true.

The morning before we drove to Saratoga, we said farewell to our good friends and neighbors, D’Arcy and Judy Havill. You’ve read about them in my past blog posts. They will leave Rainbow Lake in a few days and go home to their real home in Camp Dennison, just outside of Cincinnati. They’re summer people on our road.

I was a bit misty eyed when we shook hands and said farewell. It’s hard to find better neighbors in such an isolated area where we live…who have talents, skills and are like-minded.

We’ve hiked more than one trail with them and climbed more than one peak in and around Lake Placid. D’Arcy is an avid bicyclist, and even though I’ve tried, I can’t keep up with him. Judy is a genius at finding artwork and antiques for their home.

Their home just about a five minutes walk from our house.

Mariam and I will miss their company, movie night and the fine conversation after a grilled dinner.

You see them along the Interstate highways in Kansas, Arizona and nearly everywhere else in the country. Those haunting small white crosses and bouquets of flowers that are mostly plastic. That way, they survive the weather.

These are the roadside memorials for those who lost their lives, while driving along major highways and lonely roads. I don’t remember seeing them when I was growing up, but they seem to be so common these days.

The memorial (photo above) is the closest one to where I live. A young man couldn’t manage the turn on our road and skidded into a utility pole. I knew the moment this young man passed away because I was reading, late at night, about 1 am when my reading light went off. All the lights went off in our house. A power outage.

Little did I know at the time that when the room went dark, so did the lives of this young mans family and friends. It’s been several years now, and the ribbons, the messages and the notes are all faded.

Faded by the harsh Adirondack weather. But, I’m sure the memory of this boy has not faded one tiny bit in the hearts of his loved ones.

Every time I see one of those white crosses along I-81 or I-75 or a county road to a desolate town in northern New York State, I try to enter the minds of those left behind. Could they afford a proper headstone? Mostly likely they could, but some need within the family wanted drivers, strangers, to pause for a moment to reflect on the loss of a life that meant the world to them.

But, for the rest of us, it’s only a glimpse of a place where some live human being, for whatever reason, left this life abruptly and without preparation.

When you pass one of these memorials, pause your thinking and mutter a farewell prayer for the forlorn soul.

Most people who choose to write and post blogs do so to make a point of some kind. That is not something I always try to do. Make a point, that is, or push a position, or share a recipe for s’mores. Many of my subjects are valid and intense..full of honesty and conviction. Some are light and whimsical. Some are full of nostalgia, fear and regret. I write and post because I enjoy touching on subjects that interest me, amuse me, and by extension, hope they will entertain and be enjoyed by you, my followers and friends.

But, I never have been good at math.

A few postings ago, I slipped in a teaser about an upcoming blog that would blow the roof off the cyber-joint that we share. I said that I was only four posts away from my 400th blog. I was elated. I was preparing something special that would help many of my readers believe that they’ve really not wasted that much of their precious life in taking time to read my stuff and even click ‘like’.

But, then…cold reality and facts slapped me upside the head. I took the time to look more closely at my stats on WordPress and found myself in a cold shower. The number of 396 was what I was focused on. But in reality, that number included the total number of blogs written not published. I failed to recall that I had 14 posts that were started and never finished…for various reasons. I didn’t think they were good enough, I forget about starting them and I, most importantly, neglected to delete them. So they fell into a category called ‘drafts’.

This is where I am found wanting. I promised a 400th blog that would deliver the emotional impact that would be the equal to Cher performing at half-time at the Super Bowl, to Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize, to finding a lost episode of Gilligan’s Island, to proving the climate really does change because of human activity (something that seems to be beyond the grasp of anyone who slept through 7th grade science), to proving that Yoko Ono really did break up the Beatles and that bringing back Dynasty to TV is somehow a rational idea.

So, in reality my last post about Halloween was my 383rd.

This is a set-back worse that Trump ‘winning’ the 2016 election (not really).

The question is: where do I go from here? At the rate I’ve been posting, it may be well into 2018 before I can deliver the ‘keeper’…the 400th blog post.

Not to worry. I will always find something worthwhile to post and, hopefully, worth your time to read.

I should mention that, as a child, one of my favorite things to do this time of year was to kick a pile of leaves along a stone sidewalk.

It’s gloomy, rainy and windy here in the North Country. It rained hard before dawn this morning so nearly all the foliage is now on the ground. If the wind continues, the little color that is left will leave the deciduous trees naked in a few days. But, surprisingly, the outside temperature is in the mid-sixties, so it’s hard to think of this being October 8, only a few weeks before my favorite time of year, Halloween! But, we live in a rather isolated location, so there will be no trick-or-treat for us. There never has been any since we moved here in 2011.

This is not like the place where I grew up, Owego, NY. It’s about six hours downstate and it probably rained there as well last night. But, in the vast store of my childhood memories, I’m sure there were wet and dark days in my home town when I was young. However, once the weather front went through, the air would turn crisp and sometimes there would be frost on grassy lawns, and on the pumpkins, carved and candle-lit, that sat on the porches and front steps like sentinels…or warnings. The strange truck with the giant vacuum hose had already made its slow way along the curbside to suck up the leaves that were raked in piles. We were still allowed to burn leaves in those days so the air was rich with the scent of smoldering oak and maple and elm leaves from someones back yard fire pile. Trick-or-treating down Front and Main Streets, as well as John, Ross and Paige Streets was a joyful time of year for me.

My happiest Halloween’s were when I would take my daughter, Erin (in the mid to late 1970’s) and later, my son, Brian (in the early 1990’s) down those fearful streets. Those were when the sidewalks would be crowded with families and the houses would be lit up with orange light and strange candles and we could see our breath in the chilly air.

[My daughter, Erin. Getting ready for a trip to Owego.]

[My son, Brian…as Fu Manchu.]

After a lifetime of growing up on Front Street, this was my chance to peek inside the older and larger houses…all the way to the business district.

Our first stop was the Sparks’ house next to ours. Then it was across the street to the old Loring house and then back across the street to walk past the only ‘haunted’ house in my neighborhood, the very old Taylor mansion with the floor to ceiling windows and mansard roof. We’d be sure to stop at Dr. Amouk’s house (pardon the spelling). He usually had the best candy which was ironic because he was a dentist.

My children usually made a ‘pretty good haul’ on those nights. And, it was a joy to view their excitement from an adults perspective.

I remember one Halloween in particular. My wife and I were taking my son Brian on the rounds. We got to a house that was almost directly across the street from my old elementary school, St. Patrick’s. There were corn shocks and fake cobwebs all over the large porch. Then my son spotted a pair of feet sticking out of a box next to the front door. He hesitated. We pushed the door bell. A woman dressed like a vampire came to answer. She was holding a box of candy. But Brian had already made a retreat to the sidewalk. He was having no part of this woman’s fun that night.

Remembering how my kids enjoyed those walks forces me to remember the times when my friends and I owned those after dark hours while we hid behind the Frankenstein masks or space-suits; the hours when you never knew who would open a door or what monster might cross you path. So many leaves were scattered on the slate sidewalks that one simply had to kick at them. As children, we knew the magic of that season would last only a few days.

Now, we can still kick leaves along our road…but it’s not the same as it was. Nothing will ever be the same as those charmed nights of a spooky holiday when you’re seven or eight…or even fifteen, when your goal is not an apple or twenty M & M’s, but to steal a kiss behind the large elms that once lined Front Street.

To steal that kiss was a treat that couldn’t be bought in any candy store.